ISLAMABAD - Continuing his tirade against Jang media group for the second consecutive day, PTI Chairman Imran Khan Saturday demanded that Geo TV should apologise to the nation for its baseless allegations and media vilification of the Army and ISI.
The PTI chief further said the allegations were levelled against defence institutions at a time when Pakistan was confronting security threats and terrorism from within the country and externally. He also alleged the TV channel for abetting in rigging in 2013 general polls by announcing pre-mature election results and becoming a surrogate media cell for PML-N.
Khan while addressing the party workers in Islamabad the other day said that eight-hour long malicious campaign against ISI by a TV channel could not have even expected from an enemy country.
According to a statement issued by PTI central secretariat, the PTI chief said while all state institutions must function within the law and constitution, it was unacceptable that media houses launched campaigns against any institution without adopting the legal route of providing proof and approaching the courts.
Khan observed it was ironic how subjective Geo’s accusatory approach was given its inability in the past to name known killers belonging to or affiliated with certain political parties who killed journalists like Wali Babar with impunity. Khan added Geo TV had also aided and abetted in the general election rigging from prematurely announcing the results when barely 30 per cent of the results had come in, to pre- electoral polls fixed to give certain outcomes. In the interests of independent media, the PTI kept silent despite seeing that Geo/Jang group had effectively become a surrogate media cell for PML-N and reaped financial rewards including cricket broadcasting rights.
“However now Geo TV has gone too far by conducting a deliberate campaign to malign the military and demoralise our soldiers. The ambiguous government posturing on this issue is equally condemnable,” the statement said.
The statement further said, “PTI stands by a strong independent media and has always held the patriotism and integrity of journalists like Hamid Mir and Ansar Abbasi in the highest regard and respect. But the Geo media house has exploited the situation to carry forward an agenda of baseless targeting of the military and ISI for which it should apologise to the nation.”